


What Are Friends For?

by Softlight



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, This is pure fluff, for the prompt "I can't sleep"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24964021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Softlight/pseuds/Softlight
Summary: Blake wakes up in the middle of the night and notices Yang is also up."I can't sleep."
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 10
Kudos: 135





	What Are Friends For?

**Author's Note:**

> For the anon on tumblr who asked for the prompt, "I can't sleep," this is for you! <3

Blake rolled over in bed and blinked blearily at the clock. Half past three, which was far too early. She groaned, burying her face deeper into her pillow. There was a dryness in her mouth, and when she went to take a sip of her water bottle, it spilled all over her and drenched her pjs. Blake huffed and sat up, pulling the shirt away from her chest before releasing it.

She padded out of her room and down the hallway into the kitchen. She filled up her water bottle once more and took a deep drink. Her eyes scanned the kitchen as she drank, her brow furrowing as she took in the steaming kettle. Her gaze drifted outside to the porch where a familiar blonde head of hair sat out, stark and shining in the firelight.

Blake opened the porch door. Yang startled, whirling around with a hand pressed to her chest. “Oh, hey, Blake. You scared me.” 

“What’re you doing up?” she asked, sitting down beside her on the couch. She noted the mug in Yang’s hands and smelled the chamomile on the balmy night air. 

“Nothing. Just came out here to enjoy the night.”

Blake snorted. “Never took you to be a liar.” She softened her gaze. “Are you alright?” They had been living together for just over two weeks, although they had been friends since their freshman year of university seven years ago. Ruby had moved out of her and Yang’s apartment to move in with Weiss and Penny, and Blake had moved in. But Blake had never seen Yang like this.

Yang looked small. Her eyes were tired and distant, and her shoulders were slumped around her as her legs curled into her chest. She looked young and small and tired. It was like the flames that constantly burned in Yang had banked to embers. Still there, but weak.

Yang loosed a breath. “I can’t sleep,” she admitted. Yang drew further into herself and didn’t meet Blake’s eyes. 

Blake nodded, pulling her own leg close to her chest. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked softly. Yang’s hair sparked in the light of the fire and shone like gold. “Because I’m here. If you do want to talk about it.” Brothers, her tongue felt clumsy.

“You should go back to bed,” Yang said.

“So should you,” Blake countered. She gently nudged Yang’s shoulder. “You need sleep. Do you want me to run to the drugstore and pick up a sleep aid?” 

Yang shook her head. “I’m fine.” 

“But?”

“But I can’t sleep.” There was frustration in Yang’s voice that made Blake’s heart twist. 

“Is this the first night you’ve spent out here?” Blake asked quietly.

“Nope.” 

Blake raised a brow. “What do you usually do when you can’t sleep?” she asked. 

Yang gestured with her mug. “Chamomile tea. Come out here and relax by the fire.” Her voice turned wistful. “Ruby would sometimes hear the kettle go off, and she would come lay with me until I fell asleep.” 

Blake swallowed hard. “Why do you think that helps?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Yang said, but her cheeks were red. Blake decided not to press, but Yang continued. “It just does. Did, I guess.” Yang took a sip of her tea. “I have nightmares. From the accident.” There was a vulnerability in her voice that rendered Blake silent. “And when it first happened, Ruby slept with me in my bed every night. It’s just comforting, I guess.”

“Have you ever tried sleeping with a stuffed animal?” she asked.

Yang gave her a look. “I’m twenty four years old. Of course I’ve slept with a stuffed animal before.” 

“No, I mean, recently. To hold while you sleep.”

“Oh. No, I haven’t.” Yang looked up at her, lilac eyes wary. “You think that would help?” she asked, biting her lip.

Blake shrugged. “It’s what I used to do,” she admitted. “And there’s no harm in trying, right?”

“Right.” Yang nodded, and a smile cracked open over her lips. “What did you sleep with?” she asked, that smile turning into more of a smirk.

Blake rolled her eyes, jostling Yang again, but she replied, “A big fluffy bear. His name was Sunny, because he was a sun bear, and I loved him very much.” She paused and flushed. “I still have him, actually. At my parent’s house. He was too big to bring to Vale, unfortunately.”

“Very unfortunate.” Yang’s inner flames were growing again, and the brightness had started to return to her face. “My dad won me a shitty dragon at the fair one year, and I slept with it every night for two years until it literally fell apart. He threw it out because it was barely more than tatters, and I cried for a week straight.” Yang’s gaze slid to the crackling fire before them. “I still miss that little dude.”

Blake nudged her again. “Maybe we should get you another little dude,” she suggested. “For nights like this.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Yang stretched upwards and stood, turning off the gas for the fireplace. “Come on. We should head to bed.” 

“Are you gonna be able to sleep?” Blake asked. 

Yang shrugged. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I should try, and you need sleep.”

“So do you,” she said, crossing her arms. 

“Don’t worry about me,” Yang said. “I’ll be fine.”

Blake looked into her eyes. She looked tired, but her eyes were certain. Reluctantly, Blake nodded. “Alright. But if you need me, you can wake me up.”

“I know.”

“I mean it, Yang. Seriously.” She gestured around. “I don’t mind.”

Yang smiled at her, and an ember heated in Blake’s chest. “Thanks, Blake.”

* * *

“I’m home!” Blake called, locking the door behind her. 

“In the kitchen!” Yang yelled back. Blake couldn’t resist smiling as she strode into the kitchen, hands behind her back. “What’s going on?” Yang asked, raising a brow.

Blake held out a giant fluffy mess of a dragon plushie. “Here,” she said. “For last night.”

Yang’s eyes went soft as she took in the bright purple and yellow dragon. Blake had picked out the fattest and biggest one they had, trying to snuggle it in the store to find the best one, much to the amusement of the employees and her own embarrassment. “You got this for me?” Yang asked. There was an emotion in her voice that Blake couldn’t identify, but she nodded. “You didn’t have to do this, Blake.”

“I wanted to,” she said with a shrug. Her heart skipped a beat. “If you don’t like it-”

“No, I love it!” Yang rushed to say. Her freckled face turned red, and Yang scratched the back of her head. “This is great. You’re great. Thank you.”

Blake nodded. “But there’s one rule before I hand them over,” she warned.

“What’s the rule?” Yang asked, raising a brow.

“You have to name them first.”

Yang grinned, and her smile was as bright as the sun. She walked over to Blake and gently patted the top of the dragon’s head, musing. “I’m shit at naming things,” she admitted. “Do you have any ideas?”

“This is your friend,” Blake said. “It’s your choice.”

Yang nodded, rubbing her chin. “Mhm, okay.” Yang studied the plush once more before her face lit up. “Ember,” she declared. “Ember Xiao Long-Belladonna. Ember Belladonna-Xiao Long? What do you think?”

Blake blinked. “You want to give her my last name?” she asked. Her heart clenched.

“If that’s okay,” Yang said, almost shy. But Yang was never shy, so that couldn’t be it. “You got her for me. And if she’s going to be living in this apartment, she’s not just mine. So, yeah. What do you think? Xiao Long-Belladonna or Belladonna-Xiao Long?”

Blake just smiled at her. “I like Belladonna-Xiao Long, and not just because it’s my name first,” she said, but Yang was already laughing.

“I knew you would say that. Alphabetical order and all that.” Yang rolled her eyes. “Alright, Ember Belladonna-Xiao Long it is.” 

Blake handed the fat dragon over, and Yang hugged the plushie tight to her chest. “Thank you, Blake.” Her lilac eyes were shining. “Seriously. It means a lot.”

“Yeah, of course.” She smiled at her, unsure why her stomach felt so hot and fluttery. “What are friends for?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this fluff! It was really relaxing to write. <3


End file.
